Welcome to “Toy Soldiers for Old Gits” or what we call TSOG! This is a place where three actually four regular guys henceforth known as the Old Gits will ramble on about all scales of Toy Soldiers, various War Game Rules, record their AAR’s and comment on all manner of other war gaming stuff in general. Should be fun for every war gamer on the Inter Web...hmmm do people still say that? Anyway read on and enjoy!

Friday, 3 May 2019

1/56 French 1940 Armour FCM 36 & Renault R35 (Completed)

Continuing to build up my France 1940 CoC forces!

Today I completed two French AFV's.

First up is the Renault R35 from Warlord. As previously mentioned I found the fit a 'bit iffy' for the tracks on this kit and the details were just okay (good thing was decals and metal tank figure were included in the price). well I sanded the track section and they now sit fairly upright and also now sit almost within the line of the mudguards. I used a camo scheme based on drawings from the Tank Encyclopedia. It will get some weathering once i complete all my planned France 1940 vehicles.

Here's a couple of WIP pictures showing the track alignment from above...

...and the amount of sanding involved to improve their camber and try to get them to sit under the mud guards.

Onto the Mad Bob Miniatures FCM 36. Now this is my favourite looking tank of all time, it's Art Deco lines make this the look the most sporty tank I've seen! It is to AFV's what the Chrysler Building is to Art Deco Architecture! I just love it, pity it's a really a crap AFV on the table top! HeHeHe.

This model is a resin cast of a 3D printed original, I believe this as on the underside and on the lower hull you can see what look like the print layers. Anyway the good news is even if the original was a 3D print the top has been cleaned up really well and the surface has a nice texture. There are four parts; the hull, the turret, a drivers hatch and the commanders hatch. This gives some opportunities for the builder to include crew. I found one small air bubble on the surface of the hull so that's pretty good. It was an easy build and again I used the Tank Encyclopedia as a basis for the camo. The decals are Warlord ones from the R35 & Pz 38(t) kits. Again weathering will be done later.

The completed FCM 36...

I will definitely buy again from Mad Bob Miniatures and beside having a good range of vehicles/guns they have a fixed overseas shipping price that is very reasonable!

Hey Tony, thanks for checking out the blog. Sorry for the late reply.Yes there are more French tanks on the way, a S35, a H35 and a Char Bis1.Also will look at one tracked transport vehicle and maybe one armoured car then my French CoC force will be complete (famous last words).